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Captains' roles to be turned on Head

Travis Head is looking forward to taking on his Test skipper during South Australia's Shield clash against Tasmania

Had the unthinkable – though not altogether the implausible – occurred during the recent Tests against Sri Lanka and Tim Paine sustained injury, then it's likely Travis Head would have taken over as Australia's on-field leader.

While Head and Pat Cummins were notionally joint vice-captains for the Domain Series Tests in Brisbane and Canberra, the former's experience at South Australia's helm over the past four years surely would have seen him outrank the wholehearted fast bowler.

Mercifully, the injury curse that had stalked Paine relentlessly for almost a decade did not recur, and he accepted the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy after his team's 2-0 triumph was sealed in Canberra with Head posing alongside him in the celebratory photographs.

On Saturday, two-thirds of Australia's incumbent Test leadership group will be reunited, albeit wearing opposing colours at Adelaide Oval.

But as Head resumes his captaincy of the West End Redbacks, Paine instead will be taking directions from the man who succeeded him as Tasmania skipper (and who Paine usurped as Test team's gloveman), Matthew Wade.

It represents a role reversal as sudden as it is curious, but it may also serve as an exercise of reassurance for Paine by allowing him to witness and evaluate first-hand the lieutenant he'll feasibly take alongside him into this year's Ashes campaign.

Not that Head's leadership qualities have hitherto remained hidden within Australia's Test set-up.

When Cricket Australia convened a panel that included selection chair Trevor Hohns, former national skippers Greg Chappell and Mark Taylor and then-High Performance boss Pat Howard to interview leadership candidates among the player group, Head stood out.

That was largely because he was the sole participant among the six in that process, which ultimately saw Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh installed as Test vice-captains, who chose to pull up a chair among his interlocutors rather than sit across the board table from them as initially instructed. 

Since then, it's not only the left-hander's productivity – he's been Australia's leading Test runs scorer since earning a Baggy Green Cap five months ago – but his diligence that has impressed Paine and national men's team coach, Justin Langer.

Like a number of his teammates, Head struggled against Pakistan's spinners during his debut series in the UAE last October but, upon returning home to Australia, set about bolstering his defence while finding ways to score against quality slow bowling.

Head falls twice in similar fashion

As a result, he lost his wicket only once in 10 Test innings against the potent spin threat posed by India and Sri Lanka in their respective Domain Series.

"The thing that’s most impressive about Travis is how he keeps learning, keeps getting better," Langer surmised towards the end of the Test summer in Australia.

"The way he’s playing spin from a year ago, his forward defence against off-spin, the way he’s able to come down the wicket.

"He's improving all the time, and that’s all you can ask for."

But even as he fashioned a game plan to defy Ravi Ashwin, Dilruwan Perera and other world-class spinners that he confronted during the Test summer, Head found other areas of his game that required work, and set his single-minded focus on fixing those.

His profligate dismissal in both innings of the second Test against India in Perth - where he flayed at full, wide balls that were duly caught at third man – led to another bout of remedial work between matches.

Head's commitment to eradicating weaknesses in his batting was obvious during the subsequent first Test against Sri Lanka last month, when he instinctively flashed at a wide offering from seamer Dushmantha Chameera and narrowly avoided being caught at second slip.

The near miss brought a rare flash of anger from the Test rookie, who punched the face of his bat in self-admonishment and obvious frustration before again knuckling down to score a then-personal best of 84.

Which was followed by his maiden Test century in Canberra a week later.

Full highlights of Head’s first Test ton

"That’s the thing about experience, you’ve got to go through some tough times to learn it," Langer said.

"The way he clicked back in after a loose drive (in Brisbane), and then he let the ball come to him and he looked like a really good Test player."

Now, with the resumption of the JLT Sheffield Shield competition employing the England-manufactured Dukes balls that offer greater assistance for swing bowlers, Head knows his technique will be tested in different ways.

Typically, it's a challenge that he's dutifully prepared for

He spent several months of last year playing for Worcestershire in the UK county competition in order to hone his game against the Dukes ball, and to enhance his claims for inclusion in Australia's Ashes touring party come next July.

Head said this week that he had not yet lifted his gaze to the upcoming Qantas Ashes Tour, and that was because his immediate ambition is to score runs for South Australia and help lift them from the bottom of the Shield ladder.

However, he acknowledges that the insights he gleaned during his time at Worcester (where he scored 339 runs at an average of 33.9 from six first-class appearances) have heightened his preparedness for the second-half of the Shield season.

And, by extrapolation, for the Ashes campaign given the near-certainty of his selection in Australia's next Test touring party.

"It was really good for my defensive game," Head said this week, when reflecting on last year's UK stint against the Dukes ball.

"To be out there and learning – it always swings, it always offers something.

"There are moments in the game where you don't think something's happening, and then the ball offers something.

"It probably tightened me up a lot more.

"That's what I wanted to get out of going to England was my forward defence, and to continue to work on that.

"I was able to spend some time against it (Dukes), and you've just got to be really watchful and always got to expect the best ball."

What he can also expect, given the knowledge he gained playing under Paine's Test captaincy in recent months, is some creative banter from the Tasmania keeper when the pair are locked in battle over coming days.

Paine drew attention for a number of exchanges with India's batters - most memorably his rival keeper, Rishabh Pant - that were captured by the broadcasters' stump microphones during the recent Test series.

The best (and worst?) of stump mic

Head has revealed that in previous matches against Tasmania, Paine has been known to provide some interesting on-field commentary.

However, the SA skipper is not anticipating anything too revelatory to emerge during the Shield game starting on Saturday, largely because he does not believe he possesses much of merit for Paine to work with.

"I'm pretty good – clean slate," Head said, when asked what elements of his play or persona Paine might target.

"He's had bits and pieces over the years, so we'll wait and see what he's got for me.

"Hopefully he'll come up with something, and we'll look forward to seeing him."